While Russian Riverkeeper is always ready to respond to wildfires to minimize the risk they pose to our watershed’s health, we much prefer that catastrophic fires do not occur. YOU can play a role to minimize the risk to you and your family in future wildfires. Most local fire departments and Fire Safe Sonoma can provide fire risk assessments and there are easy-to-follow guides you can use as well to assist your efforts to make your home fire safe. Many of the tips and information they provide can help you prioritize and budget for reducing fire risk to your family. If you prefer to have someone else manage your fire risk reduction, there are companies such as Madronus Wildfire Defense who can help you assess and reduce the fire risk to your home and property. There are several local firms that can do the work involved if you are not able to. However, you approach it we encourage everyone to learn about fire risk where you live in the Russian River watershed.

After a wildfire, there are several impacts to our watershed and natural resources such as erosion and debris flows and the proliferation of invasive plant species. When structures are burned down, they release toxins into the air, soil, and water from the combustion of plastics, furniture, vehicles, and other household items. After the Tubbs, Kincade, Walbridge, and Glass fires, Russian Riverkeeper worked with County support to install erosion controls around burned structures to contain the toxics until structure debris is cleaned up to protect water quality and watershed health.
The removal of tree canopy and ground cover in wildfires allows rain to land directly on the soil rather than gently dropping off leaves and absorbing them into leaf litter on the forest floor. More rainfall runs off the land rather than being retained by the soil, resulting in increased soil erosion, debris flows, and downstream flooding. That loss of canopy is made worse after wildfire due to higher intensity burn areas burning up organic material in the topsoil layers. When soil loses its organic matter, the soil cohesion is greatly reduced and soil particles can’t stick together, so they rapidly erode. Accelerated erosion harms fish and aquatic creatures and affects downstream wells. In very high-intensity burn areas the soil becomes hydrophobic and repels water, leading to increased potential for flash floods and debris flows. Some slopes in the Walbridge fire area are extremely steep, limiting the potential for mitigation.
Russian Riverkeeper staff has twenty years of expertise in erosion control and can help residents assess erosion risk on your property. We are available to assist property owners in installing erosion controls to protect your property and our watershed resources.

The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) has created a very thorough Fire Recovery Guide for property owners.